When her father began showing early signs of dementia in 2001, Aunty Bronwyn Chambers knew she had limited time to ask what she desperately wanted to know about his life.<\/p>\n
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this story contains the name and image of a person who has died, used with the permission of their family.<\/p>\n
She asked: “Is there anything you regret as an Aboriginal man?”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aunty Bronwyn did not know it at the time, but his answer would change the trajectory of her life.<\/p>\n
“That we never had the opportunity to learn our language, our songs, our culture,” her father, Ronald Williams, replied.<\/p>\n
That day, Aunty Bronwyn made her father a promise.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Aunty Bronwyn says she promised her father, Ronald Williams, she would revive the Darkinyung language. (Supplied: Bronwyn Chambers)<\/p>\n
“I said, ‘Dad, I promise I’m going to find [our] language now, and you know I don’t make promises that I can’t keep,'” she said.<\/p>\n
“At the time, I didn’t know how, but I was determined to bring back the Darkinyung language to my family and our people.”<\/p>\n
A year later, Department of Education (DEP) approached Aunty Bronwyn and other First Nations community members to discuss the revitalisation of language.<\/p>\n
It sparked the formation of the Darkinyung language group, facilitated by the Aboriginal Language Centre ‘Muurrbay’, to revitalise a language which, at the time, was believed to have no living speakers.<\/p>\n
The group enlisted the help of linguist Caroline Jones, who was a junior academic at the time, to write the first Darkinyung dictionary.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Aunty Bronwyn hopes that one day, Darkinyung could become her people’s first language again. (ABC Central Coast: Shauna Foley)<\/p>\n
“It was a blessing to have [Dr Jones], and she was just as excited as we were about the opportunity,” Aunty Bronwyn said.<\/p>\n
“Because of colonisation and government policies, so much of Darkinyung language had been lost.<\/p>\n
“So to start working on [the dictionary] was truly incredible and I felt very honoured.”<\/p>\n
Keeping her promise<\/p>\n
Every Saturday for three years, Dr Jones and the Darkinyung language group would meet.<\/p>\n
They would delve into research around a large round table or journey to different libraries across the state, combing through historical manuscripts and journals together.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Darkinyung Language Group and Dr Jones (far left) had worked together for three years. (Supplied: Caroline Jones)<\/p>\n
“Alongside the [research], we would discuss country, family, community and what the local priorities were,” Dr Jones said.<\/p>\n
“At that time [2004], there were no living speakers of Darkiyung anymore, so written sources were fundamental in the research.”<\/p>\n
Mr Williams died before he could see the launch of the dictionary. (Supplied: Caroline Jones)<\/p>\n
In 2008, the Darkinyung Grammar and Dictionary: Revitalising a language from historical sources was published.<\/p>\n
Mr Williams died in 2005 from a cerebral haemorrhage before he could see the launch of the dictionary.<\/p>\n
“Even though [Dad] missed out on the release, I know he was right beside us,” Aunty Bronwyn said.<\/p>\n
“He’s watching over us as we speak and sing in language and saying ‘thank you’ for keeping that promise.”<\/p>\n
Dr Jones said collaborating on the Darkinyung Dictionary was the ultimate example of “two-way learning”.<\/p>\n
“I was able to share some technical expertise, but I learned so much in return,” she said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Caroline Jones says it was a privilege to work on the project. (Supplied: Caroline Jones)<\/p>\n
At the time Dr Jones was approached to help revitalise the Darkinyung language, she had never worked on a language that was no longer spoken.<\/p>\n
“A language [like Darkinyung] needed a lot of careful research, and to develop a really close and respectful relationship. It was a real privilege to work on it,” she said.<\/p>\n
“It isn’t just about grammar. It’s about life, society, and it connects us to the past and the future.”Picking up the torch<\/p>\n
Aunty Bronwyn said her grandson, Jack Chambers, had been by her side every step of the way on the journey to revitalise Darkinyung language,\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a child, Mr Chambers would attend the Saturday research meetings with his grandmother and participate in the discussions held by the Darkinyung language group.<\/p>\n
“Even though the adults were doing the research, [Jack] was the first one to actually speak it,” Aunty Bronwyn said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mr Chambers says says he hopes to pass on the language to the future generations. (ABC Central Coast: Shauna Foley)<\/p>\n
“The first thing he said was, ‘Can I have cold water? and the second was ‘Spiderman’ because he loved it as a little fella.<\/p>\n
“It brought tears to my eyes, to see my language, my people’s language continuing through [Jack].”<\/p>\n
Now 22 years old, Mr Chambers said that learning and speaking Darkinyung with his grandmother was “the thing he holds dearest in his life”.<\/p>\n
The pair regularly meet at an ancient shell midden near Norah Head on the New South Wales Central Coast \u2014 a culturally significant place for Darkinyung people.<\/p>\n
“[The midden] has been a meeting place for thousands and thousands of years, and I am so grateful that I can continue that tradition,” Mr Chambers said.<\/p>\n
“To see all the shells on the ground and the markings in the rock, it’s real and I can see and touch it. It’s very special to me.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The midden at Norah Head on the NSW Central Coast is a culturally significant place for the Darkinyung people.\u00a0 (ABC Central Coast: Shauna Foley)<\/p>\n
“[We] eat pippies and pigface, we walk barefoot on the rocks, we swim in the sea, just like our family who came before us did.”<\/p>\n
Mr Chambers said he was honoured to pick up the torch and continue on his family’s and grandmother’s legacy.<\/p>\n
“Hopefully, one day, when I have kids of my own, I can pass that knowledge down to them and they can do the same and so forth,” he said.<\/p>\n
The midden is a culturally significant place for the Darkinyung people and surrounding groups. (ABC News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When her father began showing early signs of dementia in 2001, Aunty Bronwyn Chambers knew she had limited…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,140204,63,140203,140200,140205,134,140206,140207,104106,140202,140201,140199],"class_list":["post-233487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-aunty-bronwyn-chambers","tag-australia","tag-cultural-place","tag-darkinjung","tag-dr-caroline-jones","tag-entertainment","tag-first-nations-people","tag-how-many-languages-did-the-indigenous-people-have-before-the-british","tag-indigenous-language","tag-midden","tag-norah-head","tag-revitalizing-language"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}